By Lamin Njie
Victims of former president Yahya Jammeh bogus HIV/AIDS treatment will form part of hundreds of people lined to testify before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.
In a new report on Thursday, the government of The Gambia said victims who claim that their rights were violated by the former leader will testify before the TRRC.
“In 2007, the former president Yaya Jammeh conducted a HIV and AIDs treatment program, which ran through to 2016. During the course of treatment, it has been alleged that several affected persons who were enrolled in the program suffered complications and some even lost their lives,” The Gambia’s report on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights said.
Former president Yahya Jammeh declared in 2007 that he’d invented a cure for HIV/AIDS. The former president’s treatment programme entailed using a mixture of herbal medicine and spiritual healing techniques.
But according to the new report, “this program has been identified as a huge set-back for affected persons who enrolled in the treatment program and were required to abandon the use of their Anti- retroviral and intake unconventional medication in order to be treated.”
The report said: “As a result, the survivors have lodged a civil suit at the High Court and are claiming damages in tort for the harm ‘pain and suffering’ and loss they suffered during the treatment programme.
“The Survivors found the claim for damages on the unlawful imprisonment and the inhumane and degrading treatment they allegedly endured during the months of January through July 2007. The survivors also claim that the treatment programme also violated their constitutional right to be free from torture.
“Additionally, as a part of the Transitional Justice process initiated by the Government, a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission Act has been enacted to establish a Commission to address past human rights violations and impunity of the former regime.
“This platform will therefore be another avenue for their stories to be heard and acknowledged by the Government and possibly give them an opportunity to be granted reparations.”
